The Constant Sorrow of 2000

We're getting closer and closer to 2010, so let's all gather 'round and take another look back at one of our favorite albums from the last 10 years.

In late 2000 the Coen Brothers commissioned T-Bone Burnett to score their upcoming film based on the story of Homer's grand Odyssey, and I'm sure they expected great things out of him. What they ended up getting was a #1 album and "Album Of The Year" at the 2002 Grammy's, (along with 2 others).

In the summer of 'ought 2 (2002 that is), I had the opportunity to do some manual labor for my friend John; he was remodeling his 18th century home and had decided the finishing touch would be a large, in-ground concrete fountain/hot tub.  So, being that I had no experience building hot-tubs or anything of the sort, I was given all the back breaking labor; excavation being my main task.  I probably spent 4 hours pounding earth with my trusty maddox before I decided to put some music on to help pass the time.  Now John didn't have much in the way of a CD collection but he did have a burned copy of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

 Seeing as I hadn't heard the album yet I decided to give it a spin and after the first few bars of the opening track I could tell it was the right selection for my task.
The soaring harmonies and catchy nature of the old timey songs made the album amazingly fun to sing along with even though I hadn't seen the movie.  Being serenaded by the Soggy Bottom Boys as well as Alison Krauss, Harry McClintock, Norman Blake and others made time pass fairly quick in the back yard.
We probably listened to the album on repeat for 4 straight days and were singing, "In The Jailhouse Now" (video below) to each other for years to come.  And we apparently were not the only ones to enjoy this album as it went on to reach 8x Platinum certification and win several awards for T. Bone Burnett and Ralph Stanley.
This is the one and only soundtrack album on my top 20 list and I chose it because above all other soundtracks released this past decade, O Brother, Where Art Thou? sounds like something from a different world, a different time.  It sets the mood for the film like no other soundtrack has in quite some time and above all, stands alone as a terrific album that you can listen to over and over again.  If you haven't seen the film please do yourself a favor and watch it immediately, then get on iTunes and buy the soundtrack; it's phenomenal.



Stay tuned to us here at Metal Top Hat as we continue our look back at 20 of our favorite albums from the past 10 years.  And be sure to follow us on twitter to stay constantly updated of the going's on in our neck of the woods.